Another spontaneous thought… I asked if she had plans for Saturday.
She beamed, and said nothing that she couldn’t rearrange, and asked what I had in mind. That she would rearrange her schedule for me, brought inward smile and a warm feeling.
I was kind of caught by surprise. Asking her out was one of those moments of impulsiveness and I hadn’t thought past ‘what if she says yes’. My brain going a hundred miles an hour.
It was summer. The weekend was supposed to be warm and sunny. So, a casual first date quickly formed in my brain.
“What would you think of taking the train into the City? We could either walk along the beach, have some Chicago pizza. Or instead, maybe visit one of the museums or the aquarium? We could go late in the morning, and stay as late as we wanted to.”
“I haven’t been in the City in a number of years. Let’s hit the Museum of Science and Industry. I’ve never been there. People say that it’s more interesting than the Natural History Museum. Maybe we could do the aquarium another day. That sounds like fun too.”
I liked where this was going.
………………………………..
The forty-five minute train ride into the City was fun. We got to spend our first real alone time together, without the distractions of the group.
I asked her if ‘Sam’ was short for Samantha. She grinned and nodded.
Sam grew up in a small farming town with a neighborhood of mostly boys. She learned to throw a baseball and football before she was nine years old. Became really good at shooting a basketball. So good, that it was not uncommon for her to out-shoot, out-dribble, and out-run most of the boys. Getting a bloody nose, or scrapped knees were not uncommon for her, and never fazed her. She just got up, brushed herself off, and went back to whatever she was doing. She was never into the whole ‘Barbie’ doll thing. Her comfort level was hanging out with her ‘guy’ friends. Sam did admit, with a grin, that once she started to get breasts, the boys kind of back off a bit and treated her a bit more gently. For her, she just pressed on more aggressively. She was still the same ole ‘Sam’.
She grinned at me, “Yeah, I was a tomboy. And ‘Samantha’ didn’t fit me. I think the only people that called me ‘Samantha’ were my teachers.
“I guess, I still am, to a certain extent. I mean I enjoy hanging out with guys over girls. I’m not all hung up on clothes and like to be simple and casual. Shopping I do only when I have to. And, makeup isn’t a big deal to me. I like the easy and natural look.”
“I kind of thought so. And for the record Sam, you don’t need makeup.”
That brought a bright smile, and a twinkle in her eye.
“You thought so? Why? Just because I’m taking karate?”
“No. The way that you move in the class. You move so gracefully… so coordinated. I can see how athletic you are.”
That brought a smile as she hugged my arm.
We talked about what we did for a living.
Sam was an OB/GYN nurse working in a hospital, close to where she lived. Sam said that she really enjoyed it. Most days she left with warm feelings of accomplishment, either helping new mothers through their first pregnancy or caring for their newborns, on their first few days of life. Although there were days that she went home emotionally drained, and wondered sometimes if it was something that she really wanted to do the rest of her life. Adding that that was another reason she wanted to take the karate class. To help her unwind after a grueling day, and looked forward to it each week. During the week, she would practice the moves in her apartment. The more grueling the day, the more aggressively she would go through her routine. She was pretty sure that she was going to continue to higher belts. Besides the exercise from the class, she would run a couple of miles, when her schedule and weather permitted it. She was glad the karate class was on one of her days off between her consecutive 12 hour shifts.
I gave her a ‘high level’ description of what I did. She found it intriguing that I couldn’t talk in detail about what I did. Not even the name of the Company.
Sam said that she was glad that I asked her out. From the first class, she had singled me out, as someone that she thought she would like to get to know better. Our after class get-togethers re-enforced that. She liked the idea that this was a ‘casual’ first date and not a more intimate dinner date. She did hint that an intimate dinner date sounded like fun too, at some point.
She was very open and honest with me. Telling me how she wasn’t looking to get into a relationship right then, as she had just gone through a rough breakup, and just left it like that. I knew enough not to probe.
I told her I wasn’t looking for a relationship either. Right now I was buried in my career, as was she. We both agreed to keep things simple and casual, and see what happens. We both understood, each of us were free to date other people. But, we both looked forward to our after-class get-togethers.
It was a fun day. We each had fun. Held hands a few times. Exchanged bright smiles. Sam even rested her head on my shoulder a few times; both on the train and as we walked around.
Being a nurse and an engineer, the exhibits at the museum, were generally things that we could easily relate to. The tour through the captured German U-Boat, was fascinating. The exhibit on ‘Pre-Natal Development’ was intriguing. I think we spent more time there than any of the others. I listened intently as Sam explained a lot of the intricacies of the developing fetus. I think we drew a bit of a following as we went from one display to the next. A few even asked her questions. She was a smart and caring girl.
I got a parting kiss as I walked her up to her apartment. I promised that we would do it again. Asked if she was a ‘die hard’ Cubs fan. That brought another smile and brief kiss to my cheek. She gave me a playful pout when I said that I was a Packer fan.
I left with a warm and satisfying feeling. We seemed to have a ‘chemistry’ between us. It was something that I had never experienced. Who knows? Maybe. I just needed to play my cards right and just let things happen as they were meant to happen. I was in no rush. And I knew that Sam wasn’t either.
…………………………………………..
So, how did I wind up, face-to-face, with my high school girlfriend that one random summer afternoon?
It was a week after Sam and I had first gone out and I was home for the weekend, as Sam had family plans at their get-away cabin in Northern Wisconsin.
My mom was busy around the house and suddenly realized that she was out of a special vitamin that she was only able to get from the local vitamin store, and asked me to go into town and get her a couple of bottles. She had already told me that my high school girlfriend’s sister, Jackie and her husband, Tom, had opened the store, and she really wanted to support their efforts. This being the early 70’s, health food stores were in their infancy. They were struggling to stay afloat, especially in a small Midwestern dairy town. Truth was… they were ahead of their time and nobody appreciated what they had to offer.